Pro-life, I thought, meant being pro all life. Not just the unborn. No matter what. Neither of the candidates are that. However, a democrat is more likely to fund a system to help out teenagers and college students to make other options besides abortion attractive. Honestly, isn’t that the way you want to go? Not force women to not do something, but make it something that’s less desirable than any other option? Last time I checked, there were a lot of abortions before it was legal.
There are several misconceptions embedded in these statements and others in this post. The author seems unaware of how forceful and deceptive Planned Parenthood can be. They don’t see abortion as even slightly wrong, so they don’t hesitate to council women to abort as the first and best option. They’re not above coercion, either.
The Democratic Party has basically marginalized and ostracized pro-lifers within its ranks and is a mouthpiece for groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL. While I deplore the death penalty and am basically anti-war, I cannot equate either with abortion. Far more children have been murdered while I typed this than the number of criminals executed or war dead in my entire lifetime (barring a nuclear holocaust). Also, the teenagers and college students the author worries about aren’t necessarily the ones procuring the most abortions. Roe v. Wade opened the floodgates for abortion on demand. The majority of abortions performed today are not for economic reason, rape or incest, or even health of the mother. Most are done for convenience. I don’t have the statistics, but I bet one of my readers does.
As for the number of abortions before it became legal, there are a heck of a lot more now. The statistics pro-choicers site about the number of back-alley abortions are widely regarded as works of fiction. Furthermore, laws are for honest people. If something is illegal, most people won’t do it. Some people will do what they want anyhow. Those people are the reason penalties exist in the law. We can’t stop them from acting, but we can certainly punish them.
I’ll end with a quick caveat. Longtime readers know, but newcomers may not know, that I am not a fan of Bush or the Republican Party. The preceding is only a rebuttal to the author’s particular statements.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than myself (Dawn Eden?) could help me out here. If some of you do decide to comment on this post, please be kind and considerate. Alektra is a nice, intelligent person and is helping her boyfriend through RCIA.
[The following is added by request of Alektra. – Funky]
Alektra has modified her post with the following clarification.
There are other means of help besides pro-choice Planned Parenthood. If you want to spend money to stop abortion, donate money to those institutions that are Pro-Life that help women and treat them with dignity.
That doesn’t quite address the point I was making. What I was implying is that people who vote for Bush based solely on life and family issues do so because the Democratic Party has sold its soul to pro-choice and pro-homosexuality lobby groups. They have drifted farther and farther left, and that bothers a lot of people.
I, for instance, was raised with a healthy distrust of the Republican Party. I think the sky might fall if my parents ever voted for a Republican. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered that the Democratic Party I was raised to trust and rely upon to defend the values of middle America has gone off the deep end. They’re just as beholden to corporate interests as Republicans and they’ve abandoned traditional moral values. They’ve lost my vote. In fact, the whole two-party system has basically lost me. I change parties as it suits my needs during primaries and will be voting third-party in November.
Other people have switched allegiances because of life and family issues. Still others have always voted Republican and are beating the drums louder about the Democrats’ moral inconsistencies and inadequacies. The point is that, for many people, stopping abortion and protecting traditional marriage are the biggest issues of this election. For some of those people (not me), Bush is the man for the job.
To further complicate matters, many Catholics have a hard time justifying voting for a pro-choice, pro-homosexual marriage, pro-ESCR Catholic. Some bishops have gone so far as to say that voting for Kerry would be a sin. So, for EWTN to urge people to vote for Bush is based on his strong evangelical Christian faith and his opposition to abortion, homosexual marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.
As the author of that statement? I wasn’t just talking about systems like Planned Parenthood. There are systems that are specifically Pro-Life in America, some of them Catholic. Please refrain from judging my statements and tracing back to them before you know the facts of the matter on what I’m saying. If I’m vague, I’ll be more than happy to clarify! 🙂
I’m sorry if I jumped prematurely. It’s a nasty habit. :/
It is important to remember that striking down Roe will not force the genie back in the bottle–it will simply return the question of abortion to the 50 various state legislatures. Non-theraputic abortion will almost surely remain legal in nearly every state (maybe not Utah). But at least it will put the issue back in the political arena and out of the hands of judicial legislators…
If I vote for GWB, the ONLY reason is the likelihood that he’s “stubborn” enough (especially in a lame duck 2nd term) to nominate an anti-Roe SC justice or two.
I agree with Funky that these related seamless thread of life issues, though relevant, just don’t rise to the same level of repugnancy as abortion to (in the words of Creed) “make ends meet”.
Peace & Kindness
It’s ok! I like to know when I’m not clear. Could you please edit your post to note people to look to these comments or a retraction of some sort? I just don’t want people seeing the link and whatnot.
Thanks very much! See you Tuesday.
Thank you! I really like the post and hearing your point of view.
I wasn’t saying be Democratic, but that Bush would be also bad, that morally, it’s wrong. It’s hard to want to do the right thing when I am afraid of one candidate and don’t agree with the other. And if I vote for neither? Either one wins anyway.